ANSWERS |
|
3 1 turnover | 4 speculators |
2 equity | 5 liquid |
3 domestic | 6 fluctuations |
Language focus: Describing trends and graphs
A good way to demonstrate this type of language is to bring in (or ask your learners to bring in) some graphs from annual reports, a financial newspaper or the internet.
Many of the verbs in the table can also be nouns and vice versa. Also many of the adjectives can be made into adverbs by adding -ly. If learners are having difficulty thinking of other words, they could see how many of these verbs they could make into nouns, and how many of the adjectives into adverbs.
Notice that the vertical axis of the f/$ exchange rate graph goes down to $1 and not zero.
VOCABULARY NOTES
Irregular verbs: rise - rose - risen-, grow - grew - grown-, foil - fell -fallen.
The words given to describe graphs do not include verbs for huge changes [rocket, soar, go through the roof, crash, plummet, plunge, etc.). However, many of these appear in the Language focus of Unit 15, which looks at verbs to describe changes in stock prices.
You may want to discuss with learners how hit bottom and peaked are different to the other verbs in the table for upward and downward movement.
ANSWERS
1,2 Answers to Question 1 are in italics - the other (possible) answers are for Question 2.
|
|
| -* |
| Speed | Size |
Verbs | increase rise climb grow* improve* get better* | decrease fall drop decline deteriorate* get worse* | level off remain stable remain constant stabilize stay at the same level | Adjectives | dramatic gradual rapid sudden sharp steady quick slow | slight moderate considerable substantial sigrificant growth rise climb |
Nouns | growth rise climb | decline drop |
| Adverbs | sharply gradually dramatically abruptly suddenly rapidly quickly steadily slowly | sigrificantly substantially moderately slightly considerably |
* grow, improve and get better are used where upward movement is positive; deteriorate and get worse are used where downward movement is negative.
3 1 declined steadily 4 hit bottom
2 rising sharply 5 peaked
3 rapid fall 6 climbed significantly
Practice
You can either tell the learners about this in advance, and ask them to come to this lesson equipped with a graph and an explanation, or they could prepare it for the next lesson.
An alternative would be to ask the learners to imagine that they are reporting back to their boss on one of the suggested topics. The topics which are suggested should appeal to a wide range of both in-work and pre-work learners, but if your learners have other interests which can be explained with the use of graphs, they can certainly choose those.
Writing reports 1
To learn how to: structure reports; separate facts and opinions; give findings, recommendations and examples; use connectors To practise: writing a report on online trade finance
'his unit returns to the (imaginary) MGS Bank, and •.heir plans regarding the future of their retail branches,.vhich featured in Units 3 and 10.
Lead in
.earners who are still studying may not have much experience of reports. Learners working in finance may already have to read and / or write them. If they are critical of some of the reports they have to read so much the better: they should then have some thoughts about what makes a good or bad report.
Some learners may be aware of the differences in style and tone among reports written for different audiences: colleagues, superiors, the board of directors, investors, the media, the general public, and so on. Reports for colleagues might be less formal than those written for superiors. Reports for an audience outside the company (investors, the media, the general public) are likely to be more polished (i.e. more work will be put into the style), to have a more positive tone (if at all possible), and to include less detail and more emphasis on what is new, good, better and potentially advantageous.
Discussion
ANSWERS
The normal order would be:
1 Title page
2 Contents list
3 Summary
4 Introduction
5 The main part of the report
6 Conclusions
? Recommendations 8 Appendix or appendices
2,3 and 8 are usually only necessary in quite long reports.
Reading: Facts and opinions
ANSWERS
1 Facts: 1,2,? and 11 Opinions: 3,4, 5,6,8,9,10
2 Phrases used to give opinions:
I feel.... I believeI have the feeling....
I think it seems to me...,... in my view...,
I’m inclined to think...
Useful phrases
Several of these phrases are also in the Language focus of Unit 12.
Vocabulary
POSSIBLE ANSWER
Findings
Research has shown that 52% of bank customers prefer using a bank branch to using the telephone or the internet. In the richer AB social group, the figure is 45%. Our customers also want us to open longer hours, until 6 pm from Monday to Friday, and on Saturday mornings. It has also been demonstrated that well-designed and well-located branches attract more customers, who then buy more banking products. Some banks now have small coffee shops selling refreshments. Having friendly staff behind the counter is also extremely important.
Recommendations
I strongly recommend that we redesign our branches, first testing sample designs with younger customers. We ought to open branches in shopping centres, if possible incorporating coffee shops. It would be advisable to give extra training to counter staff who are not considered friendly enough with customers. I also strongly recommend opening longer hours, until 6 pm from Monday to Friday, and from 9 until 12 on Saturday mornings, though we will have to negotiate with the staff about this.
ANSWERS
|
Language focus: Linking words
ANSWERS
If 2e 3a 4d 5d 6b?c 8c
VOCABULARY NOTE
e.g. is from the Latin exempli gratia, and i.e. is from the Latin idest.
.earners will need time to prepare and write this report: it could be planned and discussed in the lesson and then given to write as homework.
POSSIBLE ANSWER
Online Trade Finance Introduction
This report, written by, Head of Internet Banking, to be submitted to the Chief Executive, recommends setting up a separate Trade Finance website and introducing online trade finance facilities.
Given the success of online banking in our Retail Banking department, this report will recommend extending online banking to our trade finance services. The Trade Finance department could have its own website, giving information about trade finance, and including standardized application forms for letters of credit and bills of exchange, giving customers the possibility to start transactions and deliver instructions online.
Trade finance
Many small companies are reluctant to import or export directly, because they do not fully understand the complexities of trade finance. They would certainly appreciate a website that provided them with the information they need. This could include:
• information about import and export risks
• information about trade financing options, including letters of credit and bills of exchange
• product diagrams (flow charts) demonstrating how letters of credit and bills of exchange work
• information about Incoterms
• information about trade insurance
• answers to frequently asked questions.
Surprisingly few banks offer this service, so putting all this information online for free could create a lot of goodwill and give us a big competitive advantage.
As v/ell as offering information, the site could include:
• a list of our trade finance products and services
• details about our fees
• application forms for letters of credit, bills of exchange and other forms of payment.
At present we have several members of staff completing letters of credit and bills of exchange according to customers' instructions. If application forms were available online, and the customers filled in the details on letters of credit, reducing the amount of work necessary at the bank, this would reduce our costs and make each transaction more profitable. This increased profitability would soon cover the initial costs in setting up the website. Furthermore, offering these services would probably gain us a lot of new customers.
Conclusions
Providing this information and these online services v/ould probably generate new business. It would also reduce the workload involved in processing customer instructions and thus significantly increase profits. Recommendations
I strongly recommend setting up an independent MGS Trade Finance website, probably mandating a professional v/eb design company to create it. Because of the security issues involved, this should be a company with experience in the banking sector.
Stocks and shares
To learn about: stocks and shares; key vocabulary of the stock market To learn how to: talk about market price changes To practise: describing changes in share prices
BACKGROUND: STOCKS AND SHARES
Successful companies can issue shares (British English usage) or stocks (American English usage), which are certificates representing part ownership of a company, to raise capital to expand their operations. If these shares are offered for sale to financial institutions and the general public, this operation is called going public, and the business will change from a private company to a public company (called a public limited company or PLC in Britain, and a corporation in the US).
Offering shares to outside investors is generally called a flotation in Britain, and an IPO or initial public offering in the US. Companies usually get advice from an investment bank about how many shares to offer and at what price. The investment bank helps to find buyers, and will probably underwrite the share issue, meaning that it guarantees to buy the shares if there are not enough other buyers.
The company will commission a due diligence report - a detailed examination of its financial situation - from an auditing firm, and then issue a prospectus explaining its financial position, and giving details about the senior managers and the financial results from previous years.
Shares are also known as equity or equities. Equity financing is not the same as debt financing (borrowing money) as money raised from equities never needs to be paid back; instead the holder owns part of the business.
The most common form of equities are called ordinary shares in Britain and common stock in the US. (In Britain, stock means securities such as government bonds.) The people who buy equities are called shareholders or stockholders. Investors buy stocks and shares in order to receive an income in the form of
annual dividends (a share of the company’s profits), or because they hope to make a capital gain by selling the shares at a profit.
After an initial flotation, companies that require further capital can issue new shares. This is often in the form of a rights issue: existing shareholders are offered the first right to buy them. After shares have been sold the first time (on the primary market) they can be repeatedly traded at the stock exchange on which the company is listed or quoted, on what is called the secondary market. The major stock exchanges, such as New York and London, require listed companies to publish a lot of financial information for shareholders. The majority of companies use smaller over-the-counter (OTC) markets, such as NASDAQ in New York and the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London, which have fewer regulations.
The nominal value of a share (the price written on it) is rarely the same as its market price (the price it is being traded at on the stock exchange). This can change constantly during trading hours, because it depends on supply and demand - how many sellers and buyers there are. Some stock exchanges have computerized automatic trading systems that match up buyers and sellers. Other markets have market makers: traders in shares who quote bid (buying) and offer (selling) prices. The spread or difference between these prices is their profit or mark-up. Most customers place their buying and selling orders with a stockbroker, who trades with the market makers.
Shareholders’ buying and selling decisions depend on the financial situation of the company, the situation of the industry in which the company operates, and the state of the economy in general, but also on the beliefs of investors - whether they think the price will rise or
fall, and whether they think other investors will think this too. Although some investors keep shares for a long period, there are also speculators who buy and sell shares rapidly, hoping to make a profit. These include doy traders - people who buy shares and sell them again before the settlement day: the day on which they have to pay for the shares they have purchased, usually three business days after the trade. If day traders sell at a profit before settlement day, they never have to pay for their shares. Day traders usually work with online brokers on the internet, who charge low buying or selling commissions.
Companies that make a profit are not obliged to pay a dividend to their shareholders: they can also retain their earnings by keeping the profits in the company, which causes the value of the shares to rise. Alternatively, companies can also choose to capitalize part of their retained earnings, which means turning their profits into capital by issuing new shares to their shareholders rather than paying them a dividend. There are various names for this process, including scrip issue, capitalization issue and bonus issue. Companies with surplus cash can also choose to buy back some of their shares on the secondary market. These are then called own shares in Britain and treasury stock in the US.
Stock markets are measured by stock indexes (or indices), such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) in New York, and the FTSE 100 index (often called the Footsie) in London. These indexes show changes in the average prices of a selected group of important shares.
Investors and financial journalists tend to classify shares in different categories. Blue chips are shares in large companies with a reputation for quality, reliability and profitability. More than two-thirds of all blue-chip shares in industrialized countries are owned by institutional investors such as insurance companies and pension funds. Growth shares are those that are expected to regularly rise in value. Income shares are those that have a history of paying consistently high dividends. Defensive shares provide a regular dividend and stable earnings, but their value is not expected to rise or fall very much. Value shares are those that investors believe are currently trading for less than they should be worth, when compared with the companies' assets. Financial journalists commonly call investors who expect prices to rise bulls, and investors who expect them to fall bears. Consequently a period when most of the shares on a market rise is a bull market, and one in which most of them fall in value is a bear market.
Discussion
If you’re lucky, you'll have learners with interesting tales about speculating. If not, perhaps you can invent your own!
At the time of writing, the last major stock market crash was in 198?, which younger learners obviously won’t remember. The bursting of the dot.com bubble (the end of the boom in high-tech shares) mentioned in the text occurred in 2000.
The two big 20th century crashes were in October 1929 and October 198?. The newspaper headline shown refers to the second of these. One could agree with Mark Twain that October is a very dangerous month in which to speculate in stocks, if he hadn’t been making a joke about all the months of the year. Twain is famous for his novels Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, but these words of wisdom come from the main character’s Calendar in his novel Pudd'nhead Wilson, Chapter 13. There is a further quote from Twain about speculation in Unit 19.
Companies issue stocks or shares, which represent part-ownership of the company, in order to raise capital to expand their operations. They usually use an investment bank for advice about how many stocks to offer and at what price, and to find buyers.
VOCABULARY NOTES
The terms shares and shareholders are used in Britain, and stocks and stockholders in the US. In Britain, stock also means securities such as government bonds. The terms stock exchange, stock market and stockbroker are used in all English-speaking countries.
The British use company while Americans use corporation.
Vocabulary 1 ANSWERS
bulls | institutional investors | ||
bears | day traders | ||
bubble | raise capital | ||
collateral | issue | ||
shares | bankruptcy |
Reading: Why stock markets matter
This abridged article is from the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.Uk/l/hi/business/1182349.stm.
ANSWERS
1.2
The text answers the pre-reading question:
the level of stock prices can affect consumer
spending, the value of pensions, the level of
employment, etc.
3 1 True:‘...as stock markets fall, it is not just people who own shares who lose out... stocks and shares have become an integral part of almost all our financial lives.’
2 False: 'Usually the first to react to this are the institutional investors... the big City investors had already pulled out of the market.’
3 False: 'Unlike the state pension which is paid out at a rate set by the government...’.
4 True.- ‘... companies use... the issue of new shares to raise capital to expand.’
5 True: ‘... they have to find ways of increasing the company’s value to attract investors. The key tool they use is to cut jobs.'
Vocabulary 2
ANSWERS
1 1 a to be burnt, to suffer pain, to take a hit
bto escape unharmed
2 1 to pull out of the market
2 to call in a loan
3 to attract investors
4 to cut jobs
Language focus: Understanding market reports
If you can get hold of any financial headlines (from the Financial Times or a similar newspaper), it is a good way to demonstrate this type of language in context. With books closed, ask learners if they can think of any ways to describe trends which they have seen or heard in the press.
Note there are no words and phrases in Question 2 for the third column of the table - these come later in Question 4.
Learners will need to listen to the report more than once to pick out all the details.
QKDTAPESCRIPT FOR QUESTION 3
Reporter: In Tokyo today, the Nikkei 225 was firmer at eight thousand, five hundred and sixty-nine point three three. Stocks around Europe also advanced this morning, following Friday's late surge on Wall Street, when the Dow Jones gained eighty points. In Paris, the CAC-40 is up twenty points, although France Telecom plunged three euros fift. to thirteen fifty-five after the company issued a profit warning, and Thomson dropped one percent to eighteen point thirty-four. The DAX in Frankfurt is also up, by thirty-six points, although Lufthansa tumbled four per cent to seven point fifteen. In London, the Footsie 100 has climbed tc four thousand, two hundred and twenty point one British Energy jumped to five pounds twelve after they Dublished their six-monthly results. Notable losers in London, however, include Vodafone, which slumped to one pound sixteen.
On the commodity markets, copper, which seemec to be going through the roof last week, is steady at seventy-nine point seven cents a pound. Gold has slipped to three hundred and sixty-two dollars an ounce, while silver is almost unchanged at four point forty-four.
ANSWERS 2,4 Answers to Question 2 are in italics - the other answers are lor Question 4.
|
Stocks in Japan | у |
| |
Stocks in France | * |
| |
France Telecom |
| ||
Thomson |
| ||
S | Stocks in Germany | * |
|
Lufthansa |
| *4 | |
Stocks in Britain | * |
| |
_ 8. | British Energy | * |
|
_ 9. | Vodafone |
| |
Copper |
| —► | |
Gold |
|
| |
Silver |
| —*■ |
4 Verbs from the report are added to the table in Question 2 above.
Other:ommonly used verbs for rises include: to be stronger, to leop (leapt - leopt), to rocket, to shoot up (shot - shot), to soar, to surge.
Other verbs for falls include: fo be down, to be weaker, to crash, to dip, to ease, to sink (sank
- sunk), ro plummet, to slump, to go through the floor (went - gone).
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY
Ask learners which of the verbs in Ouestion 4 could also be used as nouns.
Some of these verbs are commonly used as nouns, including: an advance, a jump, a gain, and a drop (e.g. a jump of 3*). Others are used as nouns in particular phrases with a verb, including ro make an advance and to take a tumble.
VOCABULARY NOTE
Some of these verbs can also be used with some of the adverbs presented in Unit 13, e.g. were slightly firmer/ stronger, advanced slightly, gained considerably, climbed sharply, jumped dramatically, dropped substantially, fell significantly.
Practice 1
See pages 119 and 128 of the Student's Book for the file cards.
The learners can prepare these roles in pairs, but they should be careful not to show their graph to their partner. Learners will need a clean sheet of paper and a pencil (rather than a pen!) to draw their partner’s graph. If you have a more advanced group, or one which needs to us? the phone, this practice can also be done as a telephone call, although it is more challenging. Learners should be encouraged to ask questions about why the changes occurred, and to think of possible reasons (orinvent them) for their own set of figures.
Practice 2
Obviously, the longer the imaginary portfolio is in existence, the more chance it has of gaining or losing value. This exercise will not work as well on a five-day intensive course!
You could provide lists of the leading blue-chip companies on leading stock exchanges, easily available in the financial press, and perhaps details of companies that have only recently gone public (offered their stocks for sale).
If the learners buy stocks in other currencies, remember to record the exchange rate used.
With more motivated learners, it may be possible to change the rules, and allow them to buy and sell during the period that the portfolio is in existence (charging, say, 2% commission for each transaction). They can be asked to explain the reasons for the positions they have taken.
Writing reports 2
*earn ^ovv t0: use r'8^* style and tone; use the right presentation
* and layout
To practise: writing a complete report
<
Lead in
In-company teachers may already know the answers to these questions. If your learners come to a school, the answers to these questions might explain why some come with smiles on their faces and others not!
If your learners are full-time students who are not yet in professional life, the questions could be rephrased to ask what amenities they would like or expect in their first job.
Reading: Head Office relocation
This unit is based on real data from a large international bank which moved 8,500 staff from 21 different offices in the City of London to a new, 44-storey tower a few miles away in Canary Wharf in 2002. Here, the situation has been transposed to the fictional Metropolis Bank in New York.
Learners should read through the questionnaire and then the class can discuss the following questions.
VOCABULARY NOTE
Learners may not know the word inoculations - British English uses vaccinations.
Discussion
As always, learners can discuss these questions in pairs or groups, and then you can see if there is any consensus. Even if there are widely varying opinions about the facilities in a company or business school, this is still useful language practice.
Listening 1: Catering choices
Learners will need to listen to the dialogue more than once to pick up all the details. The word catering (providing food; used in the title, but not in the dialogue) may need explanation.
Q®TAPESCRIPT
Project Manager: So, any surprises?
HR manager: No, not really. Well, yes, actually - the response rate. It was extremely high. We sent the questionnaire to about 50% of the staff, and got nearly 3,200 responses - that’s around 80%. Project Manager: That’s very good. So what do they want?
HR manager: Food! And lots of it! There’s a clear
demand for both a staff restaurant, serving hot and cold lunches, and for coffee and sandwich shops. Most respondents already working in departments with restaurants say they only eat 0Jt once a week, on average. But they also say ney wouldn’t choose the same lunch option every day. They clearly expect a building with
8,0 people working in it to provide them with several choices.
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